WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Occult World’s Coveted Blacksmith ◈
Chapter 74: The Tingling Lure
──────
‘A Ritual Implement for catching water monsters.’
I lay on the cabin bed, lost in thought.
How the hell was I supposed to make that?
Their ink erased every Spell Formula it touched.
Since Spell Formulas did not work, Ritual Implements were useless. That was why fishing was the only option.
‘Argh.’
A blacksmith who made a living by inscribing Spell Formulas, faced with something that nullified inscriptions.
What kind of broken trait was that?
That was seriously cheap.
‘Hmm...’
Was there really no way around it?
Bang!
“Bwahahaha!!”
The cabin door flew open as if it were about to break, and Su-a came running in.
A fish thrashed wildly in both her hands.
“Hey! Look! It’s a huge catch, a huge one!”
“Wow. That’s awesome.”
“...You didn’t even look! Look at it!”
“I’m working.”
“Working, my ass! You’re just lying there!”
“I work lying down.”
“Liar...”
“Tch. Don’t interrupt me. Go play with Meow.”
“Hmph. You’re no fun.”
Su-a pouted.
“...Do Emperor is super lame.”
“...? Hey. Where’d you learn to say things like that? Get over here.”
“No!”
Hugging the fish, Su-a stomped out of the cabin.
Bang.
The door shut, and the cabin fell quiet again.
‘Hmm. Where was I?’
Right.
They said fishing was the only option because the ink nullified Spell Formulas.
The basic fishing line used for occult fishing was woven from a special material that held Spiritual Power well, but no Spell Formula was inscribed on the line itself.
That was why it stayed intact even when covered in ink.
‘Then what about the rod?’
It should be fine to inscribe a Spell Formula on the fishing rod.
As long as the creature did not spray ink above the water, there would be nothing to erase it.
At first, I had considered attaching a Spirit Stone to the rod and making something rechargeable that replenished Spiritual Power.
...But that did not seem feasible.
A Spirit Stone capable of withstanding those creatures’ strength would cost a fortune, and it would not be easy to get one right away.
More importantly, this had to be mass-produced.
Su-a’s debut was not far off. We needed to resume Sea Heart Stone mining as soon as possible.
When was I supposed to make all those fishing rods one at a time?
As easily, quickly, and abundantly as possible.
I would mass-produce them and sell them throughout this area.
Then those hundreds of water monsters would get cleared out on their own.
‘Hmm...’
Ink that erased Spell Formulas.
I shot upright.
Come on, get up!
They said knowing yourself and your enemy meant you would never lose a hundred battles.
I needed to learn more about those things.
* * *
“Can that ink be bought on the market?”
I thought it might help if I could analyze how it worked, so I asked Taegong.
“Want to take a look? I happened to dry out an ink sac from one I caught before.”
...He had that?
I accepted the ink sac Taegong handed me.
Then I loosened the Suppression Talisman slightly and examined the Spiritual Power circuits inside.
‘...Aha.’
Inside the sac, web-like Spiritual Power circuits were intertwined.
The structure was designed so that a Spiritual Power signal reached the ink sac’s opening all at once. Once it peaked, the ink would gush out.
“When they feel threatened, they shoot ink first. That’s why Ritual Implements don’t work on them.”
‘Hmm...’
If the ink was the problem...
Then I just had to stop them from shooting ink, didn’t I?!
A method that could be mass-produced and kept them from using Spiritual Power?
That was easy!
Oh, nice. Nice.
I figured it out!
.
.
.
“What is this?”
What I held out was a fish-shaped Ritual Implement carved from metal.
“I came up with a way to catch them.”
Its name was the Jolt Jolt Lure!
Inside, I had inscribed the circuit from a Suppression Talisman and a lightning Spell Formula.
So once one of them bit down on this thing!
The hook would prick it. Ouch!
Startled, it would instinctively draw up its Spiritual Power to fire ink.
But at that moment, the Suppression Talisman inside would activate!
Its Spiritual Power would not reach its peak, so it could not fire the ink.
Which meant it could not erase my Spell Formula!
In short, I was nullifying its Spell Formula nullification!!
Then the lightning Spell Formula inside would activate repeatedly. Zap zap!
Of course, since it used the fisher’s Spiritual Power, it would not be powerful enough to knock one unconscious in a single blow when used by an ordinary occult fisherman.
Still, if I hit a creature whose strength had been cut in half by a Suppression Talisman with an electric shock too?
By my calculations, even Grade 3 fishers could catch them!
Whoa...!
Was I seriously a genius?
Success on the first try?
“Hmm, is this what makes an Eul-tier artisan different? To make something like this so quickly. Impressive...”
Taegong turned the lure over in his hands with admiration, then shook his head.
“But you see, it will probably be difficult.”
Hmm...?
It would not work?
“They only eat living prey. That’s why people normally use expensive Silver Scale Fish alive as bait.”
‘...Only living things.’
Apparently, they would not even touch dead spirit beasts or fake bait infused with Spiritual Power.
‘Hmmm!’
My first try had failed.
No matter how amazing the lure was, it was useless if they would not bite.
“Brother! We’re almost there!”
Man-seon shouted from the pilothouse.
Where he pointed, a massive lump of rock rose through the sea mist.
‘Oh.’
There really was a rocky island?
“Ughhh...!”
Su-a, who had apparently woken from a nap in the cabin, shuffled over in a daze with a blanket draped around her shoulders like a cape.
“Are we here?”
“Over there.”
“Woooow...!”
“It’s called Gyeongdo, but everyone just calls it Whale Island. They say it looks like a whale’s back.”
The closer we came, the clearer its outline became.
They had said it was like a miniature Ulleungdo, and they were not wrong. An old lighthouse rose from the sheer cliffs.
Below it stood a low, broad building that looked as though it had been carved directly into the rock.
“That’s Cheonghae Workshop.”
* * *
Once we docked and stepped onto the pier, someone hurried over to greet us.
He was a pleasant-looking man in his mid-fifties.
“Ah, it’s a pleasure to meet you!”
The man introduced himself as a Byeong-tier artisan. He was the son of the previous workshop master and the current master of Cheonghae Workshop.
“Thank you so much... truly, truly, for coming all this way.”
He bowed repeatedly.
‘...But this place feels empty.’
Despite the size of the facility, there were only two or three employees.
“Haha... It’s a little shabby, isn’t it?”
The workshop master noticed where I was looking and smiled awkwardly.
“As you can see, everyone left.”
This area had once been busy with fishing, so it had drawn plenty of customers. But with the water monsters around, people had stopped coming altogether.
With no work, everyone was either taking time off or working part-time jobs on the mainland.
“This way.”
Creeeak.
When the massive iron doors opened, the sharp smell of metal and saltwater washed over us.
Half the workshop’s interior connected directly to the sea.
Water flowed through a channel beneath a ceiling rail where a crane moved back and forth.
Something enormous hung from the end of its chain.
‘...Oh.’
It was a submarine.
Its plump, streamlined body resembled a whale, and a drill as large as a person’s torso was set where its mouth should have been.
“This is the Sea Heart Stone mining machine, the Steel Whale.”
“The Steel Whale?”
“Haha, my father gave it that name.”
Hmm... But it looked better than I expected.
There was not a single dent or broken section. Its exterior looked practically brand-new.
“I repaired all the other damaged parts, but...”
The workshop master ran a hand over the Steel Whale’s head, his expression bitter.
“After my father passed away, I simply could not touch this core Spell Formula. It was so intricately woven together...”
Up close, I could see a crystal-like section covered in dense Spiritual Power inscriptions.
‘Aha.’
It was an existing mechanical mining machine with a Spiritual Power detection Spell Formula added to it.
A structure that combined modern technology with a Ritual Implement!
Well, that made sense.
Even if I was a famous artisan, no one would ask me to repair a submarine.
Sea Heart Stones were Spirit Stones that hardened after absorbing water-attribute Spiritual Power little by little in the deep sea for centuries.
As with any Spirit Stone, if you disturbed its grain incorrectly, all the Spiritual Power inside would leak out and it would become an ordinary rock.
So you had to detect the boundaries of the stone and the flow of Spiritual Power precisely, then carve away the surrounding area without damaging it.
The core Spiritual Power detection Spell Formula that sensed all that was broken.
“Look! A whale!”
Su-a pointed at a huge whale photo hanging on the wall.
A massive whale emerged halfway above the horizon, with a young man standing on its back.
“That was my father’s familiar.”
‘He raised a whale?’
“When my father was young and stranded at sea, that whale spirit beast once saved his life.”
Apparently, the whale spirit beast survived by eating Sea Heart Stones.
“So my father devoted his whole life to studying that whale’s biological structure. He recreated the way it detected the Spiritual Power of Sea Heart Stones through waves in a Ritual Implement.”
Aha.
It was a Ritual Implement modeled after the biological radar of a whale that fed on Sea Heart Stones.
“I’ll take a look now.”
‘Hmm. I see. This is why no one could fix it.’
They had copied an actual animal’s biological circuits directly, so the structure was far too delicate and complex.
The whale’s Spiritual Power circuits, which generated waves of Spiritual Power, had been inscribed just as they were.
“...You don’t get it?”
Su-a had come to stand beside me and asked carefully.
“It’s okay even if you don’t! They said no one could fix it!”
She patted my back, trying to comfort me.
“Master Do. Can you... repair it?”
The workshop master looked at me with desperate eyes.
‘Well, thankfully, it isn’t badly damaged.’
If I fed it Spiritual Power and reverse-engineered it, this would not take long.
I gathered Spiritual Power at my fingertips.
“Thirty minutes. Give me thirty minutes.”
“...”
“...Pardon?”
The workshop master blinked.
“Thirty minutes? What exactly do you mean by thirty minutes...?”
“The repair.”
“...”
Even the employees carrying parts in the distance froze.
Taegong had stopped halfway through lighting his cigarette and was looking this way.
‘...What’s with this silence?’
Well, anyway.
Bzzzzzt.
.
.
.
“...You fixed it already?”
The workshop master asked again, looking like he could not believe it.
“Yes. Let’s test it.”
Hiss. Clunk.
The crane lowered the Steel Whale into the water channel below.
Bob.
The massive body floated with half of it submerged.
I climbed inside, placed my hand on the device, and let Spiritual Power flow into it.
Vwoooooong.
Woooooong.
Waves spread outward.
An image of the seabed flooded into my mind.
‘Ohhh.’
Tens, hundreds of meters below.
The positions and shapes of small Spiritual Power clusters embedded in the trench walls formed clearly in my mind.
Wow. It worked.
It felt like I had become a dolphin, firing sonar pulses.
The previous workshop master had been something else.
“It’s working!”
“...!”
“It works perfectly. I can see all the way to the trench. There are quite a few Sea Heart Stones embedded in the walls too.”
“...”
The workshop master’s expression turned strange.
“Um... the trench? While we’re still docked here?”
“Yes.”
“T-That can’t be right. Normally, we’d have to descend close to the trench just to...”
“Ah.”
Come to think of it.
I had forgotten to explain.
“There were dormant Spell Formulas, so I connected them while repairing it. It should use about half as much Spiritual Power now, too.”
It looked like some parts had not been connected properly when the whale’s circuits were transferred over.
Well, I had only finished connecting what was already inscribed.
You could say the whale’s eyes, which had only been half-open, had finally opened all the way.
“Come to think of it... My father said something similar. Are you saying you completed it?”
“Yes, it’s completely repaired.”
“...”
The workshop master stood frozen with a blank expression until one of the employees shouted.
“Sir! Pull yourself together! He said it’s fixed! It works again!”
“R-Right! Yes!! That’s right!”
The workshop immediately erupted into chaos.
“Oh, thank goodness. Thank goodness!”
“Waaaah! It’s working, it’s working!”
“Call Chunsik! Call back the workshop people who went out for part-time work too!”
The employees hugged each other, jumping around and making a huge fuss.
‘...?'
Wait.
As I examined the trench area, I saw something else.
It was only natural.
The waves did not just catch Sea Heart Stones. They caught everything that contained Spiritual Power.
‘Those are... water monsters?’
One, two.
Ten, twenty.
Deep in that trench, countless creatures wriggled around.
* * *
“Ahaha, right. I got carried away because I was so happy. Ahem...”
After hearing what I had to say, the workshop master scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
The mood settled down again.
After all, even with the mining machine repaired, they could not head out to work right away.
With a swarm of man-eating squid filling the waters offshore, no divers or gatherers would willingly risk their lives by going into the sea.
“No. Still, thank you so much. Thanks to you, Master, we could repair the Steel Whale my father left behind. You even completed the part he could not finish in life... I don’t know how I can repay you.”
The workshop master bowed several times.
“Come on. Don’t call it a favor.”
All right. The mining machine was taken care of.
‘Now all that was left... was wiping out those things.’
Inscribing it on a lure was still the best idea.
Hmm... They only ate living things...
Hold on. Then why had those Giant Ink Squid attacked the mining machine?
It was not alive.
“Is there a whale around?”
Su-a walked over and asked.
“? Why a whale?”
“I want to ride around on a whale too. I want to become a spirit beast handler too.”
“Do you think that’d work?”
Not a chance.
A whale would be at least Grade 2.
And she had not even learned spirit beast taming.
Wait... A whale?
Could it be?
Was it because of the Spell Formula structure copied directly from the whale’s biological structure?
That was why the creatures saw it as something alive.
I grinned.
Then this could work.
“Hey. Where’s that fish you caught earlier?”
“Why all of a sudden? You didn’t even react earlier.”
“...It’s still alive, right?”
“...? No! It’s mine, mine!”
* * *
Back on the deck.
Flap flap!
“Ugh. What are you doing?”
I placed my hand near the Silver Scale Fish’s belly and closed my eyes.
They said Giant Ink Squid went crazy for Silver Scale Fish.
Good.
Scratch, scratch.
I took out my notebook and quickly copied down the Silver Scale Fish’s Spiritual Power circuits. I did not need to draw its whole body.
All I needed was its Spiritual Power dantian and the core structure that emitted waves.
If I copied just that much into the lure, the Giant Ink Squid would definitely mistake it for a living Silver Scale Fish and bite.
Then I would inscribe the Suppression Talisman circuit and lightning circuit I had thought up earlier again, making sure they did not interfere with one another.
‘Ah, and one more thing.’
Something Taegong said earlier had kept nagging at me.
He had said the important thing was reading the creature’s pulse.
That you had to read the creature’s condition through the subtle sensations coming down the line.
...But not everyone could do that.
I was going to distribute these to the fishers around here. I could not expect them to have Taegong’s fishing skill.
‘So.’
I would make it so anyone could read that pulse.
An Amplification Circuit that directly read the hooked creature’s Spiritual Power pulse, then transmitted it as vibrations along the line to the handle.
Strong vibrations meant it was still full of energy.
Weaker vibrations meant it was tired.
...Yeah. Just like the vibrations in that game.
Bzzzt.
“Complete!”
The Giant Ink Squid-exclusive Jolt Jolt Lure 2.0 was a success!
Good.
“Taegong.”
“Shall we go catch some squid now?”
Footnotes:
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